Facebook post from Zenayda Serrano of MUFRAS-32, 13th Feb 2026.
Translated by ENCA treasurer Stephanie Williamson.
Zenayda Serrano is a member of the Salvadoran organisation MUFRAS-32 (Movimiento Unido Francisco Sánchez) which was instrumental in pressing for the first ever countrywide ban on metal mining in the early 2010s. Last year, she and her partner Hector Berrios and their family were exiled to the Basque country in Spain because of the seriousness of the threats they faced in El Salvador due to their human rights work.
Recently, she took part in several open conversations held in Catalunya and Euskadi. We are grateful to her for sharing this perspective on El Salvador and to Stephanie for the translation. Here we share part of the views she expressed:
The Government of Nayib Bukele, his family circle and his allies, intend to create a new State that responds to their personal economic and political interests by disrespecting and violating the Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador. To achieve this, they have implemented the Doctrine of National Security, using the ‘regime of exception’, guaranteeing the submission of Generals of the Armed Force, Commissioners of the National Civil Police and the Attorney General.
Under this regime more than 90,000 arrests of alleged gang members or those accused of being linked to these gangs have been recorded (without any prior investigation or initial hearing conducted). Cases of serious human rights violations have been reported, mostly by arbitrary arrests and more than 473 deaths inside penal centres. 94 per cent of people who have died did not have a gang member profile and all these deaths in prisons have been under the custody of state agents.
The Doctrine of National Security defines the figure of the ‘enemy within’, a key piece in repression against a social reality characterized by citizen disobedience, mobilization and protest. This process of remilitarization by decree, as is the regime of exception, in a continuous and permanently abusive way, has enabled the regime to institutionalize and naturalize the presence of the military in security and in other areas of civil competence, such as schools, public transport, prisons and communities.
Bukele promotes collective terror and enforced disappearance with impunity, as a way to silence critical voices. Enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity that has a tremendous impact on people’s families and community environments.
In our history we have demonstrated that dialogue and listening to the people can resolve disputes and make way for the flourishing of society, to a joint construction where opportunities to strengthen institutions and democratic participation are a reality, even though they require permanent work.